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He's a better writer than I could ever be.

He's a better writer than I can ever be.

What's the difference between can and could here? Are both sentences grammatically correct?

Violette
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lekon chekon
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    Related: difference among “could”,“can”,“would”,“will”. – Santi Santichaivekin May 27 '16 at 18:46
  • search the questions with "could can" might give you the answer. – Santi Santichaivekin May 27 '16 at 18:47
  • Could means to potentially be able to do something, whereas can means to be able to do something. –  May 27 '16 at 19:03
  • @SantiSantichaivekin What makes you think this question is related to the link you provided? –  May 27 '16 at 19:11
  • This might be helpful: http://ell.stackexchange.com/q/24940/ but I'm not sure it rises to the level of a duplicate. – ColleenV May 27 '16 at 19:31
  • @Rathony Honestly, I don't know. I didn't read the answers carefully. But there's a lot of questions related to can and could on this site so I think those might help. – Santi Santichaivekin May 27 '16 at 19:31
  • @SantiSantichaivekin Well, when I decide if a question is a duplicate, I always think whether any user could write an answer based on the duplicate. Can you? I can't. –  May 27 '16 at 19:32
  • @Rathony I didn't mark the question as duplicate. I just paste the link hoping it might help. – Santi Santichaivekin May 27 '16 at 19:35
  • The quality of the answers of a potential duplicate are really important I think. If there isn't an answer on the question that has the potential of answering this exact question, you should not vote it as a duplicate. Duplicates aren't about how the question is asked, duplicates are about the answers given. If you don't read the answers carefully how can you say "This question already has an answer here:"? – ColleenV May 27 '16 at 19:37
  • I'm really sorry T^T, it seems like I created a misunderstanding by posting a link without saying anything. I have no intention of marking any question as duplicate because I'm just a beginner myself. I also use the word might in my second comment because I'm not sure whether there's an answer op wanted or not. – Santi Santichaivekin May 27 '16 at 19:48
  • @SantiSantichaivekin I appreciate that you tried to link a relevant question. It's really good for the site - maybe next time just mention why you are linking it. No harm done - questions can always be re-opened. – ColleenV May 27 '16 at 19:54
  • @SantiSantichaivekin - When you think something is related but not a duplicate, try prefacing the link with the word related. (I've updated your comment.) – J.R. May 29 '16 at 16:49

1 Answers1

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He's a better writer than I could ever be.

This says he's a better writer than you could ever be, if you were a writer. You don't currently consider yourself to be a writer.

He's a better writer than I can ever be.

This says he's a better writer, even though you may be a writer yourself. It's not clear from this sentence whether or not you're already a writer, but you do think you can be one immediately if you want. Regardless, you think he will always be better.

Ringo
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